Woman ‘Trapped’ in Tesla For 40 Minutes With 115 Degrees Temperature During Vehicle’s Update

TikToker Brianna Janel said she knew she could have manually unlocked the doors, but it would have damaged the vehicle. Now, she wants everyone to understand the ins and outs of updating a Tesla, including how to get out if you need to and what will happen to the car if you do.

She said that she had decided to update the system in her Tesla while waiting for her Chick-fil-A order to be ready. But even though the update said it would take 24 minutes, she sat in the car as the temperature rose for 40 minutes.

Therefore, she continued to wait in the 103 degree heat while the car completed its update. Janel posted the video for her few followers, and within hours, it had gone viral. Some people showed concern for the Tesla owner, but others trolled her decision to stay within the vehicle to protect the car over herself.

She explained that at no point during her 40 minutes in the car did she actually fear for her safety. Janel had said “I hope I don’t run out of air,” but she noted it was just a joke. Of course, if she was actually in danger, she would have immediately used the manual handle and removed herself from the situation.

Janel said she fully knows how Tesla’s updates work, as she has had her car for six years. She just decided to utilize her 30 minute wait time in the Chick-fil-A parking lot, during which time she took a work call, to update the system.

At the end of her video, Janel tells millions of viewers, “I still love my Tesla. My Tesla is amazing. I will continue to have it for years and years and years.” She just won’t be updating it while sitting inside it anymore.

According to Tesla, “Vehicle functions, including some safety systems and opening or closing the doors or windows, may be limited or disabled when installation is in progress and you could damage the vehicle.” But what does that really mean?

They wrote, “[I] wasn’t thinking and opened driver door in the middle of a SW update and big surprise, window didn’t go down, just dragged along the door seal. No damage, just couldn’t close the door again.” Another user replied, “My wife broke her driver-side window during the last update.” So, it seems that’s the most likely result, for those who may need to know in the future.

The electric door handles were not working, and unfortunately, he was not aware that there were manual handles. This showcases one of the major problems with electric vehicles which is that many users don’t fully understand the operating systems or even the safety precautions.

Everyone knows that Elon Musk is at the helm of the great Tesla empire, and Musk is nothing if not a dedicated businessman. He and his team have been working tirelessly to ensure Tesla vehicles are safe for all, or at least working tirelessly to fix their image in the press.

Some say it’s the angular exterior that makes it so unsafe to drivers, pedestrians, and every other car on the road. But when Musk had to recall the truck due to problems with the accelerator, others started to argue that it was the  poorly-executed internal system of the vehicle that makes it so dangerous.

It may slightly damage the doof of your car, but that is a far better option than harming yourself. This story should be a lesson to all to go read your electric vehicle manual again, cover to cover.